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Err. How did that happen? I only sent this bugger once. The Y2K cataclysm has begun. At 08:44 PM 12/29/99 -0500, Joe Lapp wrote: >I've been thinking about the utility of naming all elements and most >attributes using a namespace-URI/local-name pair. Let's denote such a >name as (namespace, local-name). (I say "most" attributes because it >won't name anything in the per-element-type partition.) Seems to me >that filtering operations would commonly extract names belonging to a >particular namespace, so requests for (namespace, *) might be pretty >common. Let's look at this more closely... > >Suppose I'm defining elements that describe electronics parts. I'm >going to want to organize them hierarchically. For example: > > www.parts.com/computer/memory/sram > www.parts.com/computer/memory/dram > www.parts.com/computer/cpus/intel > www.parts.com/computer/cpus/amd > www.parts.com/stereo/speaker/surround > www.parts.com/stereo/speaker/subwoofer > >etc. > >It may make sense for one application to examine all computer parts, >another to examine all computer memory parts, and so on. If I want all >memory parts I have to know all the pertinent namespace URIs. If I >know that the URIs are structured hierarchically, I could do a wildcard >search on the URI itself -- assuming I had a tool that let me do so (do >any yet?). > >But because URIs allow this, the next guy organizes his namespaces >differently: > > www.nextguy.com/computer-memory-sram > www.nextguy.com/computer-memory-dram > www.nextguy.com/computer-cpus-intel > www.nextguy.com/computer-cpus-amd > www.nextguy.com/stereo-speaker-surround > www.nextguy.com/stereo-speaker-subwoofer > >And the next next guy does so as follows: > > www.nextnextguy.com/computer?memory=true+type=sram > www.nextnextguy.com/computer?memory=true+type=dram > www.nextnextguy.com/computer?cputype=intel > www.nextnextguy.com/computer?cputype=amd > www.nextnextguy.com/stereo/speaker?surround > www.nextnextguy.com/stereo/speaker?subwoofer > >To make namespace filtering work for the general case requires >regex-like matching capabilities. And regex matching isn't very easy >to optimize for performance (such as via indexing). It also isn't the >kind of thing we want the average XML user to have to learn -- seems to >me that it would have to bubble up to the user interface, at least on >generic XML tools. > >So I'm thinking that we need a *standard* way to organize namespaces >hierarchically, and that we need one before namespace usage is so >widespread that we absolutely have to provide regex support. > >But maybe I'm jumping the gun. I haven't yet heard anyone scream out >in pain, though I'm not sure we should be waiting for pain to come. > >-- >Joe Lapp (Looking for some good people to help design >Principal Architect and build the Internet's business-to-business >webMethods, Inc. XML infrastructure. We are 100% Java.) >jlapp@w... http://www.webMethods.com > >xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... >Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 >To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >unsubscribe xml-dev >To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >subscribe xml-dev-digest >List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...) > > >xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... >Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 >To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >unsubscribe xml-dev >To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >subscribe xml-dev-digest >List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...) > -- Joe Lapp (Looking for some good people to help design Principal Architect and build the Internet's business-to-business webMethods, Inc. XML infrastructure. We are 100% Java.) jlapp@w... http://www.webMethods.com xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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